The celebration of "family" and the connections to family roots is often documented through pictures and various items of memorabilia throughout the years. As the Canadian Association for Enterostomal Therapy (CAET) salutes JWOCN's 40th anniversary, we celebrate our family connection through the earliest publications of JWOCN by way of original documents that have been collected throughout the years by Dianne Garde, Canada's third enterostomal therapist (ET) who trained at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Dianne's collection (and she has every issue!) is impressive dating back to the very first International Association for Enterostomal Therapy (IAET) ET Quarterly, Fall 1972.
Gingerly turning the first page of the ET Quarterly newsletter, the CAET-JWOCN connection is apparent. The IAET officers for 1972 to 1973 were President, Henrene Honest, RN; Vice President, Dale Miller, RN; Recording Secretary, Dianne Garde, ET (Canada); Corresponding Secretary, Virginia Vukovich, RN; and Treasurer, Charles Blackburn, ET. Canadian Brian Meloche served on the Board of Trustees. On page 1, it reads, New Allied Health Field followed by this role description... "Enterostomal Therapy is a new Allied Health Field, of professionally trained and Certified Enterostomal Therapists, particularly concerned with the rendering of services to patients will all types of abdominal stomas. Recognition is made of the steadily increasing number of ostomates, and the trained personnel needed to help them return to their former roles in home and community."1
These words heralded the dawning of a health care service specialty for persons living with an ostomy. This premiere ET Quarterly issue gave special recognition to the first trained enterostomal therapist in the world, Norma Gill, and the dedicated surgeon who trained her, Rupert B. Turnbull Jr, MD, Head, Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation.2 The cover design was created by Donald Binder, Executive Director of the United Ostomy Association, and printing and mailing of the ET Quarterly were managed by the Arizona Division, American Cancer Society (Figure 1). The contents focused on news from the Cleveland Clinic, a report on the conference held in San Francisco, California, and short articles focusing on ostomy and pregnancy, familial aspects of inflammatory bowel disease, ileostomy adjustment, and problem-solving clinical case presentations. Three of these submissions were contributed by a Canadian ET, Aileen Barer,* from Victoria, British Columbia, who went on to become the first president of the CAET in 1982. The last page listed the enterostomal therapy training schools: Cleveland Clinic, Harrisburg Hospital, Ferguson-Droste-Ferguson Hospital, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, and Emory University.
In 1972, the IAET was the only professional association representing and unifying enterostomal therapy as a health care specialty. The ET Quarterly served as the association's voice providing a forum to "journal" issues related to clinical practice, professional development, and education for ETs in the United States, Canada, and a few other countries worldwide.
The Spring 1973 issue of the ET Quarterly saw News From Canada,3 a short communique reporting on ET activity across our country. As the Editor of the CAET Feature Section of JWOCN, I smiled reading this and could not help but extend the meaning of this 1973 report to 2011, a mere 38 years later, which mirrors the current affiliation agreement between CAET and JWOCN. As each issue evolved reaching all members of the IAET in the United States, Canada, and internationally, topics began to reflect the growing sophistication of ET practice: reports from the ET training schools; committee reports; curriculum and budget and finance; growing bibliography references for ET practice; salary surveys to new members of the IAET; information on professional insurance and liability coverage for ETs; and an article by Bettie S. Jackson, MEd, RN, ET, describing her research titled, "Stress-Frustration-Change in Body Image as a Theoretical Framework for Studying Patients With Colostomies." There continued to be Canadian content and one notable entry was found in the Spring 1973 issue, which acknowledged the 100th ET to graduate from the Cleveland Clinic, Helen Manson, RN, ET, from British Columbia, Canada.4
In the summer of 1974, the ET Quarterly became the official publication of the IAET (Figure 2). A more mature presentation saw magazine-style columns, glossy printed pages, and pictures. Throughout these issues, the heightened activity within ET practice, education, professional development, and the ET's impact on the health care system were evident. And, benefiting from these publications was IAET's Region 10: Canada, which in 1975 reported 38 members.
Figure 3 illustrates the evolving cover designs and names of the ET Journal, Journal of Enterostomal Therapy, Journal of ET Nursing to the present Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing in 1994.5(p28) Some of you will recall the vibrant colors of these past official journals. In particular, the January-February 1980 issue was my first free journal gift upon graduating from Roswell Park Memorial Institute in 1981. I readily recall reading about how to document common stomal problems using the SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan) taxonomy for documentation.
In 2000, JWOCN's Editor-in-Chief was Dr Katherine Moore, PhD, RN, CCCN, Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Faculty of Nursing at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Her leadership led to the Journal's impact factor that positioned JWOCN to move into its current position among the top nursing journals in the world.5(p29) This international recognition continues under the vision and leadership of the present Editor-in-Chief, Dr Mikel Gray, PhD, FNP, PHP, CUNP, CCCN, FAANP, FAAN. In 2008, Dr Gray approached CAET to entertain a proposal that we become a formal affiliate of JWOCN. The Journal is now an affiliate publication of CAET and every CAET member receives a copy of the Journal as a membership benefit. In a recent CAET membership survey, 80.4% stated that JWOCN was really to pretty important to their practice and 76.9% regarded the CAET Feature Section with the same level of importance (S. Mills Zorzes, CAET Membership Survey 2012, email communication, January 10, 2013). These results, coupled with the overall success of the affiliation agreement these past 2 years, have led WOCN President, Kathleen Lawrence, MSN, RN, CWOCN, and CAET President, Susan Mills Zorzes, BScN, RN, MDE, CWOCN, CETN(C), to renew the CAET/JWOCN affiliation agreement to 2015.
The 40th anniversary volume of JWOCN is a success story and a testament to the exponential growth of ET/WOC nursing around the world. For Canadian ET nurses, JWOCN represents the highest in scholarly publishing and the best in evidence-based knowledge and research that strengthens our clinical and professional practice. Many Canadian ETs have successfully become JWOCN authors, through the mentorship and developmental editing of JWOCN's Section Editors and Consulting Editors. We are proud of our successes and acknowledge JWOCN's instrumental role in fostering our growth and the opportunity to share our contributions to ET/WOC nurses. On behalf of CAET and the CAET Editorial Board, Congratulations JWOCN as you continue to facilitate and support our future roles as nurse specialists in wound, ostomy and continence care.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks to Dianne Garde, an enterostomal therapist, for preserving the history of JWOCN in the original form and so generously sharing her memories of the stories behind them.
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